Ant-Man (film)
Ant-Man is a 2015 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It was directed by James Wan and stars Paul Rudd, Evangelline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Cobie Smolders, Aaron Himelstein, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Patrick Wilson, Isabelle Cornish, Robert Downey Jr., and Samuel L. Jackson. It was released on May 3, 2015. Plot In 1995, Hank Pym learns that Nick Fury, Peggy Carter, Howard Stark, and Alexander Pierce, the heads of S.H.I.E.L.D. have been using the Ant-Man technology on ordinary citizens and revokes the rights to use his technology and then resigns from S.H.I.E.L.D. Two years after the events of The Avengers, Hank Pym continues running his company, Pym Particles, while also protecting New York City when Iron Man has started killing criminals and the Hulk team is unreliable. Hank's wife, Janet van Dyne, also helps him as the Wasp, which uses the same shrinking technology as the Ant-Man suit. Hank and Janet are visited by fellow businessman, Darren Cross. Cross, hoping to get his hands on the Ant-Man suit, proposes a merge between Cross Industries and Pym Particles. Hank and Janet refuse but Cross has planted a camera on Hank. Hank returns to Pym Particles and gets into the locked room with a thumbprint scanner and finds the Ant-Man suit. Cross uses his technology to find a thumbprint of Hank's on a door knob and uses it to get into the room and steal the suit. When Hank discovers it is missing he calls S.H.I.E.L.D. The agency sends Fury, Maria Hill, and Cameron Klein to investigate. They use security footage to find out what Cross has done. Soon they see Cross in a modified version of the Ant-Man suit to look like a Yellowjacket, and calls himself that. Hank puts employees Scott Lang and Eric O'Grady in charge of guarding the room, as it also contains S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets, which could ultimately doom the world. Hank uses an older version of the Ant-Man suit to find Cross along with Janet in her Wasp outfit. Their daughter, Hope is guarded by Hill and Klein. Fury, Hank, and Janet find Stark and ask him to help them, which he ultimately agrees to. Hank finds Lang and O'Grady unconscious and that Cross has activated nuclear launch codes after learning them from the S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets. Janet and Stark stop him but not before he blows up Miami, killing over 1.5 million people, and injuring almost 2 million more. Cross becomes mad with power and kidnaps Hope and Lang's daughter, Cassie. Hank and Janet are trapped in a Stark Industries holding cell due to Tony knowing he has to kill Cross and he doesn't want Hank or Janet to get in the way. Lang dons the Ant-Man suit and rescues his daughter and Hope. Hank and Janet are freed and make it to Stark in time to convince him not to kill Cross. Cross and Stark are arrested but Fury steps in lets Stark go on the promise that Stark will never kill again, but also spies on him to be sure. Hank, Janet, and Hope host a party with Stark, Hill, Klein, Lang, O'Grady, Fury, and other friends there. In a mid-credits scene, Pierce is on the phone with Agent Mitchell Carson discussing the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. will be gone in a matter of months. Cast *Paul Rudd as Hank Pym/Ant-Man; a scientist and founder of Pym Particles. *Evangelline Lilly as Janet van Dyne/Wasp; Hank's wife and business partner. *Corey Stoll as Darren Cross/Yellowjacket; CEO of Cross Industries. *Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill; Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. *Aaron Himelstein as Cameron Klein; a S.H.I.E.L.D. technician. *Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Scott Lang; an employee at Pym Particles. *Patrick Wilson as Eric O'Grady; an employee at Pym Particles. *Isabelle Cornish as Hope van Dyne; Hank and Janet's daughter. *Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man; a fellow Avenger. *Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury; the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Gwyneth Paltrow reprises her role from the Iron Man films as Pepper Potts. Hayley Atwell appears as Peggy Cater in a flashback scene alongside John Slattery as Howard Stark, Jackson, and Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce. Abby Ryder Fortson portrays Lang's daughter, Cassie. Martin Donovan plays Mitchell Carson; a HYDRA agent posing as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Reception 'Box office' Ant-Man grossed $353 million (23.3%) in the United States and Canada and $1.16 billion (76.7%) in other territories for a total of $1.515 billion. The film is the third highest-grossing 2015 film, the highest-grossing film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, out of fifteen. It achieved a worldwide opening weekend of $397.6 million. 'Critical reception' Ant-Man received mostly positive reviews, with critics praising the film's action sequences and its cast. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 80% approval rating, based on 235 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's consensus reads, "Ant-Man is a delightful film that mixes great action sequences, great acting and writing, and a great premise into one fantastic superhero film."